After writing about Animoto's free product in my last two blog posts (here and here), Jason Hsiao, one of the company's cofounders, graciously set me up with a premium account. I used it to create this 4-minute preview of Stream, WPP's annual "un-conference". Check it out below, and see more un-conference footage on Stream's YouTube channel.
4 posts categorized "Advertising & Marketing"
October 12, 2009
June 21, 2009
Brought to you by the letters “T” and “V”
A new video is making the rounds on YouTube proclaiming the death of Madison Avenue to the tune of Don McLean’s “American Pie” (sample lyric: “If you splurged on a TV spot,/ your brand could really gain a lot”). The thesis is that "mass" media like television are dead; the future is all about low-budget, viral messages expressed in 140 characters or less.
At the same time, Newsweek’s Lisa Guernsey writes of the 40th anniversary of Sesame Street, which may be TV’s most enduring series ever. As described in Michael Davis’ “Street Gang” (reviewed for The New York Times by my friend James Panero, who can tell you how to get to Sesame Street because, at age 6, he was there) Sesame Street’s impact has been profound.
The show’s producers borrowed audience research and creative techniques from the "Mad Men" era of television advertising, to great effect. Their success is a vivid reminder of the power of television to catalyze, or at least accelerate, the flow of ideas across a culture. Academic studies have shown Sesame Street improved a generation’s test scores and moved the bar for what children at the pre-school age were thought capable of learning. The series forged emotional bonds with its audience (who of a certain age doesn't remember Mr. Hooper’s passing?). And, the show’s openness to people of all colors, creeds and sexual orientations set the groundwork President Obama and gay marriage almost exactly a generation later.
Critics can point to Sesame Street’s recent ratings trajectory -- it now ranks 15th in the category -- as evidence of its obsolescence. Then again, there have been public television budget cuts over the years, which have forced the show to cut back on staff and production of new episodes significantly.
In fact, Oscar, Cookie Monster and the gang still matter. At least they do for my friend's two-year-old, Christopher, who has figured out how to navigate YouTube to find them.
May 11, 2009
Kinnernet USA
Apropos the title of this blog, Insufficient Postage spent the weekend at the Bolger Conference Center in Potomac, Maryland, an 83-acre govenrment training facility named after a former Postmaster General.
The venue was home to the first-ever Kinnernet USA, a camp for Internet and technology types hosted by Yossi Vardi and Jeff Pulver.
First started in Israel, Kinnernet is an "un-conference" in the mode of Tim O'Reilly's foo camp ("the wiki of conferences"). There are no pre-programmed activities, leaving the agenda entirely up to the participants. Everyone is encouraged to lead a discussion, share a talent or hobby and cook their favorite dishes.
April 04, 2009
A Shoe Shines
Think "old media" is irrelevant? Think again.
Look at what happened the other day when a 70-year-old shoe brand, Bass Weejuns, received an endorsement from a leading men's fashion magazine.
Searches for "Bass shoes" had been on the decline since 2004:
But then, after the endorsement, search volume for their "Weejuns" brand spiked dramatically:
As for sales impact, well, let's just say Zappo's has run out of my size.
